Paint-Out at Duxbury Art Complex Museum

Underpainting - Old Marshfield Fair Painting

The grounds of the Duxbury Art Complex Museum are more expansive than it may seem.   On this warm first-day-of-Summer, we set up behind the building next to a small frog pond.   The frogs were croaking while dragonflies were swooping about, presumably teasing them.   The mosquitoes were there too, but after a thorough spraying of feet, clothing and even around our heads, they stayed away.

The building is different from any I've ever seen, with multiple rooflines and wavy curves over the library wing of the museum.   Many mature trees dot the grounds creating pretty light and shadows all around.   There was a remarkable amount of red amid all the green grass, shrubs and trees.   Now that I know to look for it, I am amazed at how blind I was to it before I learned how to see (ie developed a painter's eye).   The photo flattens out the red subtleties.

This painting probably will not be going anywhere, and that's what is so great about plein air painting.   It's as much about the experience out in nature as the resulting painting.


Plein Air - Duxbury Art Complex Museum